FOREWORD: As the global umbrella organisation for 144 rehabilitation centres in more than 70 countries, the IRCT has long collaborated with various stakeholders to further a conducive policy environment for the right to rehabilitation, and to develop practical understanding on how this right can be best implemented.

In collaboration with other international NGOs working in the field, the IRCT provided concerted and strategic input to the development of the UN Committee against Torture’s General Comment No. 3 on Article 14, clarifying the precise scope of the obligations on states. Our input, reflected in the final document, focused on a victim-centered approach, early access to rehabilitation and the criteria for holistic rehabilitation.

The IRCT also brought together the expertise from rehabilitation centres worldwide, representatives from academia, governments, inter-governmental organisations and civil society in a scientific conference held in Beirut, to explore in detail the way rehabilitation is provided to torture victims and how states can become accountable for their implementation efforts.

These were important steps to shape the precise scope of the right to rehabilitation, and to gain a shared understanding of what needs to be done by the scientific and professional community to make this right a reality. However, this right will not materialise without a much wider support base.

The 2013 UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture on 26 June was encouraging. The report you are now reading shows some of the actions taken on the ground by hundreds of organisations and individuals around the world. On 26 June, they honoured the victims and highlighted their rights. Through music and theatre performances, conferences and lectures, peaceful demonstrations and sit-ins, and many other events, the message came out loud and clear.

Many people around the world heard that message, from government representatives to police officers, from prison guards to bloggers and activists, from legal and medical professionals to mere passers-by. And through the efforts of the IRCT and all the other organisations and individuals who marked the day, this message will keep spreading, echoing until this right becomes a reality for everyone, and until the reality of torture survivors becomes another, where through rehabilitation their life becomes whole again.